"Randy…can you hear me?"
When he began feeling the numbness of sleep leave his brain, Randy squeezed his eyes tightly shut, unwilling to accept that he was finally waking up. He didn't want to stop sleeping…didn't want to open his eyes, look in the mirror and see the disgusting black, swollen bruise over his eye. He didn't want to stretch and feel the tender, ripping pain deep inside him…didn't want to turn the wrong way and remember the raw scrapes he had on his back; red, irritated slashes marring tan flesh. But most of all he didn't want to remember the feeling of those hands on him, holding him down while he was stabbed from the inside out…no. It'd be far better to stay asleep, to stay in a place where he didn't see or feel anything that was real. He could already feel the pain in his legs and inside him sharpening, however as he was pulled out of the darkness. It was too late; he wouldn't be feeling the comforting caress of mindless bliss anytime soon…he was wide awake now. Cracking his eyelids open, Randy winced in pain. His left eye was so swollen he could only open it halfway, the dim light of the hotel room making him squint. Pale, icy-colored eyes roaming across the room, he took in his surroundings. It seemed like he was in his own room, judging from the thick, dark blue comforter draped across his body. The matching cornflower-blue carpet looked familiar, as did the large black suitcases lining the far wall. Yes, he was definitely in his own room…but…but how did he get there? The last thing he could remember was him saying something, something cruel before disappearing behind the locker room door…
"Hey…are you ok?"
Randy turned his head to the right, his tired eyes making out the fuzzy outline of a person sitting in a chair at his bedside. As his eyes began to focus, he saw that it was a man with long, wavy brown hair that floated around his shoulders. He was wearing a white t-shirt, and what looked like black pants…but Randy couldn't really get a good look at his legs. Blinking thickly, Randy stared at the man, trying hard to make out his face. As his eyes finally adjusted to the dim lighting of the room, Randy suddenly realized who it was.
"W-what're you doin' here?" Orton said slowly, his stiff, cut lips moving clumsily.
"Just keeping an eye on you." John Morrison replied softly. His elbows were resting on the mattress as he leaned forward, chocolate-colored eyes staring intensely at Randy.
"How did…how did I get here?" Randy asked, carefully moving his mouth so that he wouldn't irritate his split lip.
"Cena brought you here." Morrison answered calmly, "I don't know how he found you…or how he got you here. He came and got me after he got you in your bed."
"John…John found me?" Randy's face fell as he turned, looking away.
"Yeah. And it's a good thing he did…you were hurt pretty badly." Morrison had a small, sad frown on his handsome face.
"I guess…I guess he figured out what happened…" Randy muttered, sinking into the blankets.
"Yeah…he did." Morrison nodded.
"He…he told you?" Randy glanced at the other man out of the corner of his eye.
"Yeah. Maybe he shouldn't have." Morrison shook his head thoughtfully.
"No, he shouldn't have." Orton growled, turning to glare at the man sitting at his side.
"He needed me to watch you, so I guess that's why he told me." Morrison shrugged, "He didn't want to leave you alone."
"Where did he go?" The Viper asked, his voice having an edge to it.
"I…don't really know exactly." Morrison shrugged again, his voice sheepish as he reached up, rubbing his eyes, "He didn't say. He just asked me to watch you while he took care of Barrett—"
"He's gone after Barrett?" Randy's blue eyes widened, "But…the Nexus—"
"Hey, don't ask me what his plan is." Morrison held up his hands defensively, "He was so worked up…I tried to tell him he'd be one guy against like five…but did he listen to me? No, of course not…"
"Fuck!" Randy spat, his hands curling into fists, "If he gets hurt…that's just something else I've fucked up."
They both went quiet then, an uncomfortable silence filling the air.
"Ok…two things." Morrison glared down at Randy as he crossed his arms over his chest, "First of all, Cena's not stupid. If he's going to go after the Nexus you know he's going to have a plan. Second…what do you mean it would be something else you've fucked up? You haven't fucked up anything."
"This is all my fucking fault!" Randy snarled, throwing his hands up in the air, "I'm so fucking stupid! I should've never…I should've known—"
"Randy, nobody expects their coworker to corner them in their locker room and rape them. Nobody ever plans on getting attacked like that… It's not something you can control, so please, for goodness sake, don't you dare blame yourself for this!" Morrison snapped, "What he did was disgusting, and you didn't deserve it at all!"
Randy fell silent, his eyes darkening and smoldering like hot coals.
"Please Randy," Morrison leaned forward, his voice pleading, "Don't you ever think this was your fault."
"Yeah…sure." Orton mumbled, refusing to meet Morrison's gaze.
"I wish you could've seen Cena…" Morrison sighed.
"What do you mean?" Randy asked, his voice suspicious.
"The way he was acting…oh Randy, he was so worried about you. When he was telling me what happened…it was like he was losing his mind." Morrison smiled darkly, "Isn't it obvious?"
"What?" Randy blinked in confusion, shifting his body, the thin sheets wrapping around him.
"He's falling for you." Morrison replied quietly, "If you had seen him…you'd know."
"Whatever." Randy scowled, turning away from Morrison so he wouldn't see the bright red blush on his cheeks, "He probably won't want to…not after this."
"Oh please…" Morrison rolled his eyes, "Don't be stupid. He went to go take on the entire Nexus just for you! He's crazy about you Randy! And nobody, especially Wade Barrett, can change that."
"Yeah, well, hopefully he crushes Barrett's skull." Randy hissed spitefully.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that." Morrison chuckled.
Wade Barrett stood in the parking lot behind an abandoned warehouse. He'd had to drive nearly twenty minutes outside of the city to find this place, and—needless to say—he was rather miffed that he'd been forced to come all the way out in the middle of nowhere at four in the morning. John Cena had called him and asked him to meet him here… Barrett hadn't been surprised when he got the phone call. After all that had happened, he didn't think Cena would just walk away from this. No, he wasn't stupid enough to think Cena wouldn't make some pathetic attempt at retribution… But, surprisingly, John had sounded very benign on the phone…almost indifferent, in fact. He might as well have been talking about the weather when he asked Barrett to meet him at the warehouse…that had been rather unexpected. Cena wore his emotions on his sleeve; Wade had been ready to be verbally assaulted with threats to his life. Perhaps John didn't really care…or perhaps he was finally starting to realize that resisting the Nexus was futile effort. Either way, Barrett didn't care, but he couldn't deny John…no, this would be a perfect opportunity to rub it in the so-called Champ's face that he, Wade Barrett, had had a piece of Randy Orton… Not to mention the fact that, if John was intending on exacting some revenge on Wade, he wanted to be ready for it. If he didn't agree to meet John in the parking lot outside of town, then John might've attacked him when he wasn't expecting it…and that was far less desirable then the current situation…
"Do we really have to do this?" David Otunga growled, his hands stuffed deep into his jacket's pockets, "Its damn cold out here and I got a nice warm bed back at the hotel with my name on it…"
"Oh shut up." Barrett rolled his eyes, "This won't take long."
Otunga grumbled in annoyance, but he soon went silent. Truthfully, Barrett hadn't wanted to involve neither David nor Heath—who was currently leaning against the same car as Otunga, wearing a matching frown of displeasure. Barrett didn't trust either of them, and he didn't want to drag them in too deep for fear that they may betray him…but Cena was not a weak man. He was a formidable adversary, and Wade suspected he was the type to completely lose it when his loved ones got hurt. For that reason, he had insisted that Otunga, Slater, and Gabriel joined him in his venture to the warehouse, if only for some added protection. Justin had all but jumped at the request as usual…really, the boy was quite pathetic sometimes. He made no effort to temper his infatuation with the leader of the Nexus, and Barrett often found dealing with the South African to be rather nauseating. It was cold out, and all four men were dressed in jeans and jackets. The chilly breeze only served to add to Otunga and Slater's obvious unhappiness, and Barrett found himself wishing that Cena would hurry the hell up. He and Justin had taken Justin's car, and they were leaning against it, only a few parking spaces away from Otunga's rental, where David and Heath were standing. The asphalt parking lot of the abandoned warehouse was quite large, and the building itself was huge. It was obviously empty, with tall walls that had gray paint flaking off of them. None of the streetlights in the parking lot worked it seemed, so Justin had left the lights of his car on, the two bright beams of light casting shadows across the ground.
More light suddenly appeared on the street, and all four men turned towards the road, squinting to see who was approaching. It was a silver Challenger, and it slowly turned into the parking lot, its headlights making Otunga and Slater shield their eyes with their hands as it approached. Barrett couldn't help but feel his heart race as the car slid into a parking spot in front of the group, his pulse quickening as the engine suddenly went silent. Despite the calmness in Cena's voice earlier, he couldn't help but wonder how the Chaingang soldier would react to the whole situation… One of the doors to the Challenger suddenly burst open, and John Cena stepped out, quickly slamming the door shut. Cena was wearing loose, dark jeans and a white t-shirt, completely oblivious to the blistering cold of the wind as he started walking toward the Nexus. His face was completely emotionless, giving away no hint of what was to come. He stopped a few steps away from the group, arms hanging at his side, blank eyes staring at Wade Barrett… Gabriel had tensed up at Cena's approach; the South African leaned away from the car he had been standing against, folding his arms across his chest. Otunga and Slater, however, remained still, disgruntled frowns remaining on their faces, backs still leaning against Otunga's car.
"Cena. How nice of you to finally join us…" Wade growled, brown eyes narrowing.
"I'm glad I'll finally get a chance to talk to you, Barrett." Cena replied evenly, "I'd like to clear the air—"
"I swear to god Cena," Otunga rolled his eyes, "If you made Barrett drag us all the way out here to the middle of nowhere just so you could have a chat, I'm going to—"
"Why don't you calm down and let me finish?" John said quietly, turning and giving Otunga a hard look, "I think you'd really like to hear what I have to say."
Otunga opened his mouth to tell Cena to shove it, but to everyone's surprise he was interrupted.
"Just a minute David." Heath said, reaching out and placing a hand on Otunga's massive deltoid, "I want to hear what Cena has to say."
"Thank you Heath." John nodded at the redhead before turning to Barrett, "Now, tell me this Barrett: why?"
"Why what?" Wade spoke, his lips curling into a sneer.
"Cut the act." Cena shook his head, "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Why did you do it?"
"Because I could." Wade smirked, crossing his arms against his chest, "And I'm glad I did."
"Well that answers my first question. Now for my second question," John held him arm out, pointing toward Slater and Otunga, "Do they know?"
Barrett's smirk tightened, the muscles in his jaw bulging.
"Ah, they don't…do they?" Cena gave a small smile, shaking his head, "I didn't think so."
"What're you talking about?" David demanded, scowling deeply, "What don't we know about?"
"Well you see, Barrett decided to have a little fun after our match last night." John's smile dropped into a snarl, "He attacked my Randy…he raped my Randy."
Silence.
"I knew it…" Heath turned toward Barrett, shaking his head in disbelief, "All this time…you never stopped talking about hurting Randy, about getting to John through Randy… I just…I just knew you had…you had a crush on him or something!"
"You don't know anything." Barrett spat, dropping his hands to his side, curling his fingers into meaty fists.
"No!" Heath pointed an angry finger at his leader, baring his teeth in an infuriated snarl, "You said you wanted the championship…but I knew it was more than that! I knew since the beginning that you had your eye on Randy!"
"You…you can't be serious…" Otunga asked as he stared at John, shaking his head incredulously.
"This whole time…I knew this whole time there was something fucked up in your head!" Slater snapped at Barrett as he reached up, his fingers weaving into his ginger hair, "All you ever talked about was Randy and how much you wanted to hurt him… I can't believe I didn't…I can't believe I didn't do something about it!"
"Getting to Randy was the best way to get to the championship!" Justin suddenly proclaimed, taking a threatening step towards his friend, "Barrett did what he had to to get the championship—"
"You…you knew, didn't you?" Heath's pale blue eyes narrowed as he whirled around, glaring at his one-time best friend, "You knew he was going to do this to Randy!"
"I cannot fucking believe this…" Otunga sighed, reaching up and rubbing his eyes tiredly, "Been working my ass off in this company…all for this bullshit? You've got to be fucking kidding me…"
"I can't do this." Slater shook his head, "I can't be in a group that…that hurts people like that!"
"I made you everything you are today in the company!" Barrett snarled, taking a step towards the redhead, his fists clenched, "You would be nothing without me and the Nexus!"
"I don't care." Slater spat disgustedly, "I didn't sign up for this!"
"I've been looking for a reason to leave this group for ages." Otunga smirked darkly, "And fuck, if this isn't a damn good reason…"
"So this is it?" Wade curled his lips in disdain, "You're going to leave the Nexus over…him?" Barrett swung his arm out wildly, pointing towards the silent Cena.
"Did you seriously think we'd be ok with this?" Slater asked, shaking his head.
"No, he didn't." Cena finally spoke up, answering for the English man, "That's why you and Otunga weren't in on Barrett's little secret."
"Whatever…" Heath sighed like he was very, very tired, "I'm not doing this…I could never forgive myself if I went along with any of this…I'm done."
"Leave, then." Barrett sneered, rolling his eyes, "I can easily find others to replace you."
"Come on. We've wasted enough of our time." Heath said as he turned to David.
"Ain't that the truth." Otunga growled, turning and heading for his car. The two quickly opened their doors, bending over and sliding into the vehicle. Neither Heath nor David even turned to look at Cena, Barrett, or Gabriel as the engine rumbled to life. Two bright beams of light surged from the front of the car, and then the vehicle was rolling out of the parking lot, quickly disappearing down the road. The silence that followed the exit of the two members of the Nexus was stifling. John Cena stood about ten feet away from Justin and Wade, scowling at them, his blue eyes dark and stormy.
"Now, answer my question again, and this time give me the truth." Cena demanded softly, his voice dangerously quiet, "Why did you do it?"
"Perhaps you haven't realized this yet, Cena," Wade chuckled, shaking his head, "But I enjoy hurting people. Especially people who think they can't be hurt."
"You're sick." Cena replied, his fingers curling into fists.
"You know what I love more then hurting people?" Barrett smirked, "Scaring people that think they're fearless. You should've seen the look on Randy's face when I was on top of him—"
"If you enjoy being alive, you should really shut your mouth." Cena hissed, taking a threatening step forward.
"What are you going to do Cena?" Wade laughed out loud, brown eyes full of amusement, "You're strong, but Justin and I can and will take you out if you try to hurt us. Two on one isn't very good odds…"
"What about three on two? Those better odds?" John smiled suddenly, reaching his hand into the air as if he were waving at someone.
Barrett and Gabriel both whipped around, eyes widening as the two doors to the silver Challenger suddenly snapped open. Two blonde heads suddenly appeared, and all the color drained out of Barrett's face as he realized just who it was that John had brought with him. Hunter Hearst Helmsley came from the driver's side, his brown eyes narrowed, lips pursed in a furious snarl. His blonde hair was hanging in front of his face, giving him that crazed, deadly look that drew so many fans. The rage was radiating off of him as he glared at Barrett, his fists swinging at his side as he walked towards Cena. Hunter was wearing faded jeans and a black leather jacket, the fabric stretched tightly across his massive biceps. The man who stepped out of the passenger door was the Rated R Superstar himself, and his presence was far, far more shocking then that of The Game's. Unlike Hunter, Adam didn't look pissed. No, he wore a wide, toothy smirk, and his eyes were bright with a kind of psychotic excitement. He looked downright happy to be there, and as he walked side by side with Hunter towards Cena, he reached up, running his fingers through his wavy yellow hair.
"Now…what were you saying Wade?" Cena reached up, tapping on his chin thoughtfully, "Something about how I should've seen the look on Randy's face when you were on top of him?"
Hunter looked ready to explode at any moment as John spoke those words, standing on Cena's left, practically bursting with pure rage.
"Aw, he looks about ready to shit his pants now!" Adam snickered as he placed his hands on his hips, "How cute."
Barrett's eyes were darting back and forth between the three men, his face paling by the second. Gabriel was no better; he looked downright terrified as he chewed on his bottom lip, unable to even look any of the men in the eye.
"You had to know Hunter was going to get involved eventually." Adam reasoned as he stared at the two Nexus members, "Everyone knows that messing with Randy will get you a sledgehammer to the face."
"Did you think you'd get away with this, Barrett?" Hunter growled, his voice low, "Did you really think you could hurt him like that and I wouldn't do something about it?"
"I…I didn't think Orton would have the spine to tell you." Wade scoffed, voice filled with false confidence.
"Oh Wade…now you're just being stupid." Adam laughed as if he'd just been told a fantastic joke, "You left him hurt and bleeding on the floor of his locker room…of course someone was bound to find him. Don't you know that if you're going to really hurt someone you got to do it somewhere they won't easily be found? Like…maybe somewhere far from town…in the dark…somewhere people won't think to look…"
Barrett and Gabriel exchanged looks, both unable to hide the worry in their eyes.
"Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" Copeland cackled, shaking his head as he turned to look at John, "Can we hurry up and start? I was looking forward to this the entire ride over here."
"So that's it?" Wade asked hurriedly, "You're just going to…to assault us and leave us out here in the middle of nowhere? I'm your coworker, you can't just—"
"Maybe you should've thought of that before you hurt Randy." Hunter snarled, baring his teeth like an angry animal, "Maybe you should've realized that someone was going to want to make you pay for this…"
"You really are just being dumb at this point, Barrett. I mean, come on, meeting Cena out at an abandoned warehouse right after you raped his boyfriend? Doesn't that sound just a little silly to you?" Adam's face suddenly changed, his eyes going dark, voice turning from a giggle into a low snarl, "You're lucky Cena told me not to bring my knife. I would've cut you Barrett…I would've cut you like a fucking pig…I would've cut you and made you fucking squeal!"
"You made a choice, Barrett," John shook his head solemnly, "And now I'm afraid you have to pay the consequences."
Hunter, Adam, and Cena all stepped forward. Barrett and Gabriel tried to run, tried to make it into their car on time, but at that point there was little they could do to escape. Hunter's rage, Adam's psychosis, and John's bloodthirsty desire for justice were too much for the two men to handle. They tried to fight, but in the end…it didn't make much of a difference.
Only one more chapter to go! Please review, and if you've got the time, I have a new poll up on my profile for anyone who's interested in future fics by me! Oh, and for anyone who's interested in more Centon by me, I just recently started working on my other Centon fic titled 'Horror', if you want to go check that out.